ERIC Number: EJ1228767
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7724
EISSN: N/A
Tracking Congress: Issues, Interests, and Democracy in Action
Nader, Ralph
Social Education, v82 n1 p10-13 Jan-Feb 2018
Civic skills need to be practiced to keep the democracy strong, and civic training materials should be exciting and linked to real-world activities. Today, teaching government and social studies can be, must be, about students' real lives. A unit of study on "Tracking Congress" would offer an opportunity to connect civics and government to students' real lives. As they track their members of Congress and any issues that interest them, students would become creatively engaged with their government, while at the same time practicing civic responsibilities beyond the single civic duty stated in the Constitution: serving on a jury, if called. Following the four-step Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, this article presents how such a course can work.
Descriptors: Federal Government, Legislators, Democracy, Legislation, Civics, Citizenship Responsibility, Social Studies, Citizen Participation, United States Government (Course)
National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A